Cloud
by rallamajoop
Summary: Traverse Town gets a lot of visitors, but few of them ever stood out so much as this one. Written as a sequel to 'Of Flower Girls and Falling Stars', though there shouldn't be any crucial need to read them in order.


**Notes:**  
This was written as a sequel to _Of Flower Girls and Falling Stars, _but it stands well enough on its own that there's no great need to read that first. A lot of the inspiration for this fic came from the extra scene in Final Mix where Aerith confirms that she has met Cloud, knows he's looking for someone, and even knows there's someone looking for him too, as well as a few things about Tifa which Nomura has hinted at in interviews. The rest is pure speculation.

* * *

The first thing Cloud saw when his eyes started to focus was a young woman leaning over him, her features creased with concern which smoothed slightly as she saw he was waking up. There was no-one else in immediate view. No sign of… 

Cloud managed to go from lying to sitting within an instant, his head craning side to side to check left, right – no, behind him… Sights of darkened streets and a few unfamiliar, lonely figures going about their evening business swam in front of his vision. He'd moved far too hastily – all that motion caught up with him all at once. The world tilted while staying perfectly still; his head pounded and swam as though a wave had broken inside it.

Someone was holding him up, which was the only reason he was avoiding keeling straight back down. "Be careful," a woman's voice told him. "You're alright, just take it slowly."

"Where…" He bit out.

"This is Traverse Town. A twilight world," said the woman, but that wasn't what he was asking.

"No, where…" He made a motion to get to his feet but stopped himself - she was right about that much, he wasn't up to that much movement yet. He could almost feel her looking around, trying to catch on to his train of thought, then she understood.

"There was no-one else here when I found you. Sometimes, not many people make it."

"No, he's alive." Cloud whispered, horribly certain. There was no way it could have been that easy. He risked another look up at the still blurring scenery. "Where did you say…?"

"We call it Traverse Town. People often find their way here when their worlds are taken by the Heartless."

"Heartless?"

"Yes, the Heartless. They're the ones who destroyed your world, aren't they?"

He honestly couldn't remember. It wasn't a big leap to believe the whole world could have come apart beneath him back there back there without him even noticing it.

"I'm Aerith," said the girl. "You are?"

"Cloud." He looked at her properly for the first time and saw a beautiful young woman with long hair that hung in neat curls and kind, green eyes that looked into his face and knew too much, maybe looked straight into his soul. It was far too much to deal with. He looked away again.

"We should get you off the street. Can you stand?" Aerith extended a hand to him

With her help, Cloud actually made it to his feet this time. Five seconds later, he keeled straight back down to the ground again, and was out like a light for the next four hours.

* * *

In that time, the days when the stars would vanish from the skies every few days were long gone and had not yet returned. More than a year would pass before the day Sora would appear in Traverse Town, before everything that had passed in the last nine years would be sent racing to its conclusion faster than ever before. Back then, for a star to vanish was uncommon, barely an annual event. Nor was it even strictly unheard of for survivors to appear in the town at times when no star had disappeared in weeks or months – not every star in the universe was visible from their world, and even survivors from worlds they saw vanish right above them would sometimes get lost along the way there. 

Nonetheless, Cloud was something different. And from moment he arrived, Aerith knew.

The Heartless, in their endless hunger, are attracted to those with the purest hearts, though also to those with hearts so filled with darkness that they are halfway to becoming Heartless themselves already. Cloud was neither of these. There was a darkness to him – that was undeniable, and yet the feel of it was utterly different to that of those the Heartless were about to claim. It was something unique to him, it seemed. And yet, Aerith was never sure whether it was truly him it belonged to at all.

She never did meet the mysterious man he was looking for herself, and maybe that's for the best, if he's half as dangerous as Cloud claims. But there's part of her that has always wondered whether she'd recognise that same darkness in him if she ever did meet him, whether the key to understanding Cloud himself might be there…

* * *

The next time Cloud woke up, the person standing nearest him was a young man with brown hair, built as though he'd been fighting most of his life. He was holding up, without apparent difficulty, the construction girder-sided metal sword which Cloud used as a weapon. Cloud had an idea the same man had been responsible for carrying him a good part of the way here the previous night, but his memory wasn't being too clear on the subject. 

"We're assuming this is yours," the man said. "It turned up near where Aerith found you." Cloud was still lying down, but managed to nod. The other stood the weapon by the wall with an audible metallic thud. He settled into a chair a few paces away, arms and legs folded. "It's Leon," he said, indicating himself. "You go by Cloud?" The man waited for Cloud's answering nod. "There's some soup if you're hungry. Aerith seems to think you need nursing back to health."

That probably wasn't far from the truth.

"Who is she?"

"Aerith?" Leon's expression was guarded. "Another refugee like the rest of us here." He clearly wasn't answering anything until he had a clearer idea what he was being asked.

"That's all?"

Cloud must have sounded bewildered enough that Leon took pity on him to some degree. "Aerith came from the same world I did. I've known her most of my life. She has a way of seeing things that most of us don't, but she's no stranger than the rest of us. Why, was there something that made you think otherwise?"

"…it's probably nothing."

"Soup's up," a voice announced, a little louder than necessary. The door opened to reveal a girl somewhere in her mid teens, brandishing a tray which held the promised soup, and moving with so much energy that it was a genuine wonder she hadn't yet spilt more than a few telltale drops. She had the irritating familiarity of someone who'd heard your name, saw you come in, has dealt with people in your position a couple of times a month and has already seen you sleeping for the last few hours, and in the process has forgotten that you haven't actually been introduced. "Here's your soup, and you'd better like it because I'm not making you any more if you don't, and Aerith'll kick everyone's arse's if you don't eat something after you've been fainting all over the place."

"Speaking of whom, is she back yet?" Leon inquired.

"Either she is or some stranger barged in just as I got his soup done because someone just came through the front door," said the soup girl, as if this was nothing important.

"Hello?" A familiar female voice called up the stairs.

"Nope, we're good, it's just Aerith," the girl declared, and waltzed her way back out. Leon massaged his temples with one hand and got to his feet.

Cloud sipped the proffered soup gingerly. It wasn't particularly bad, though that might have been because he couldn't taste much of anything right now.

The bedroom door opened, and Aerith's head appeared from behind it. "Oh, this is where everyone is." Cloud watched her and Leon exchange greetings and talk quietly in the doorway for a moment, the Leon left as well, closing the door behind him. Aerith settled in the newly vacated chair.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah. Thank you," Cloud told her.

"You didn't seem to be injured, so we assumed you just needed some rest," she told him kindly. "The journey here is hard for a lot of people."

"Ah." Cloud stared at his soup. He really didn't have much appetite.

"Before, you mentioned someone you were looking for," said Aerith, curious, ready to help, but carefully, no more intrusive than she could avoid being.

"If you see him, you'll know him," Cloud told her, and as soon as he'd said it he was sure of it, in a way he couldn't have justified.

"But you don't think he's here?"

Technically that was only a feeling too, but it was a feeling he was having great trouble making himself consider any alternative to.

"It's alright, if you don't want to talk about it," said Aerith, letting him gently off the hook. Cloud lowered his head gratefully.

"Everyone here has lost their homes?" he ventured after a moment.

"To the Heartless, yes."

"What was your world like?"

Aerith hesitated. Cloud was suddenly painfully aware that he was hardly in a position to expect a lot of answers from anyone else. "I'm sorry – if it's something painful to remember..."

Aerith shook her head. "No – it's just been such a long time. It was a garden, full of light and life. Though the town where we lived wasn't so different to this one."

"Do you miss it?"

Aerith looked out the window over the bed, as if she could see the whole world they stood on through it. "It's been eight years. This place has been home for a long time to us. But sometimes, we do still miss it."

It must be nice, Cloud thought, to be able to let go of what you sought like that when it all became too intense; for it to be something you could talk about so easily.

"Heartless attack in Second District," a voice yelled up the stairs unexpectedly. "Leon and I are going out, see you at dinner, and don't forget it's your turn to cook because I made lunch." The sound of a door slamming echoed around the house.

"Heartless? Here?" Cloud looked at Aerith questioningly.

"Twilight worlds are never far from darkness. Every now and then, some find their way in."

Cloud pushed the bed covers away and looked automatically for his shoes. "I'll go too."

"Are you sure? They can handle it."

Cloud could tell she meant it, but she wasn't going to tell him not to go. "I'm sure."

"Take care."

He risked a rare look directly into her eyes then, and for once, saw nothing there he couldn't bear to see.

* * *

The others probably could handle it, but that didn't mean they couldn't use help. The area they called Second District held more than enough Heartless to go around. Leon and the girl were already engaged against a sizable number up against the first district gates, but under the bell tower a new wave was appearing out of the darkness. Cloud charged without a second thought. 

The Heartless were mostly small fry, little creeping black things and stumbling soldiers, but there were a couple of larger ones too – giants so fat they were nearly spherical. Cloud arrived in their midst with such fury that several of the smaller ones actually scurried out of his way. He swung his sword at the nearest of the larger ones, the weapon connected and the Heartless vanished with a loud pop. Now only two more giants remained between him and the wall. The smaller ones swarmed like angry bees on the edge of his reach, but Cloud ignored them.

You didn't have to watch them long to tell the Heartless weren't especially smart, so all Cloud had to do was wait and watch for a few seconds. When the first giant charged him he was ready and waiting for it; he swung his weapon low enough to knock the creature's feet out from under it, then finished it off with the next blow. The last had better timing, and made its charge before Cloud could recover from that swing. There wasn't time to bring the giant weapon back around again, but Cloud let his momentum carried the point of the weapon straight into the ground and flipped himself up into the air over the hilt, vaulting well out of the giant's reach. He somersaulted in mid air, brought his sword around and caught the monster cleanly on the downswing. It didn't take a second blow.

From there there were only the small fry left. These types of Heartless were far too small for a weapon like Cloud's to be a remotely appropriate way to take them on, but the swarm was thick enough that one good swipe into its midst would be guaranteed to hit at least half a dozen of them. By the fourth swing it was a matter of picking off survivors.

When you were used to the type of opponent Cloud had dealt with last, a few Heartless were no challenge. Nothing close to a challenge at all…

Someone behind him whistled appreciatively. "Hey Squall! The new guy killed more Heartless than you!"

"It's Leon."

"Well, then the new guy killed more Heartless than him too!"

"…"

Cloud tuned them out without much effort. Something here was wrong.

There was something unsatisfyingly easy about it all. He might not have expected much challenge from the creatures like these, but it had been as though none even wanted to attack him. The Heartless had vanished like smoke when his sword flew through their midst, but fast as it had been, he had the impression some had been gone before the blade even reached them – just winked out of existence and left the town far behind as soon as they saw him coming. Even the two that charged him – they'd been close to trapped against the wall. Past Cloud had been the only way out.

What horrible mark had been left on him if even the Heartless were afraid?

There was something uncomfortable about how easily Aerith understood when Cloud told her he had to leave later that day, as if maybe she understood even better than he did.

* * *

Since the first time Aerith met him, Cloud has changed completely and yet, nothing has really changed at all. Cloud has never told her whether he ever found that Sephiroth, not in so many words. Aerith can only guess the truth of the matter, how many confrontations ended in stalemates, or worse – but the time has left its scars on Cloud, and not just the variety that remain hidden. When they first met, Cloud had a single wing that sprouted from his left shoulder, bat-like and velvety black. There was a strange, asymmetric elegance to it that probably would not have suited many others so well as it did him, and Even though he usually kept it concealed from view under the red cape he wore, Aerith never forgot it was there. Then one day, when he returned from one of those journeys, that wing was gone. Cloud has worn a long black sleeve over his left arm and shoulder ever since, regardless of he weather. He still moves freely enough, and Aerith has never discovered precisely what injury he's trying to conceal, but there was a look in his face that day that begged her not to ask, and she's never had the heart to make him tell.

* * *

Saying goodbye to everyone took just about as long as the length of their acquaintance justified. This was also not coincidentally about the same amount of time as the head start the pilot needed to get the engines turning over and his ship ready for flight. 

"It'll be a shame to see you go," said Leon, holding out a hand." We could use someone with your skills here. The Heartless attacks get worse every year."

Cloud shook his hand and gave him an almost-smirk. "You'll manage without me," he said with certainty.

He turned to Aerith next, but she shook her head slightly. "I'll walk you down to the hangar."

"You don't need…"

"It's no trouble. We can't have you getting lost on the way, hm?"

As Cloud understood it, the way consisted of two straight lines and one corner, but obviously this was not something he was going to get away with arguing about. Together, the two of them stepped out under the twilight sky.

(As they were closing the door behind them, a voice from inside said, "Is it just me or does the temperature _rise_ when he leaves the room?" a little bit too loudly. Both of them politely pretended not to hear.)

Aerith seemed happy to walk in silence at first, but around the time they reached that corner she spoke up.

"Your journey isn't going to be easy from here, is it?"

"…it probably won't be." He didn't want to tell her more. Fortunately, Aerith didn't seem to want to pry any further.

"You know," she said instead, "there's an old story my mother told me when I was a child; about a light that's always hiding somewhere in the deepest darkness…"

"…always darkness hiding in the brightest light," Cloud finished. He glanced at her curious expression and turned back again. "Someone told me that story too, when I was very young. I don't think I understood it at the time."

"Do you understand it now?"

Cloud didn't know how to reply.

"Ah, here we are," Aerith declared, as though the question had never been asked and he hadn't avoided it. The hangar loomed ahead of them.

"This is it then?" 'Mixed emotions' was probably the usual term for what Cloud was feeling, but they added up to something like a blank.

"Mm. Farewell, Cloud." Aerith looked up at him again, then, unexpectedly, reached up and pulled him down by the chin until he was bent far enough for her to kiss him lightly on the forehead. "I hope you find what you're looking for. This town may not be truly anyone's home, but if you ever need a place to come back to, you'll be welcome here."

Cloud was still feeling a bit dazed when the pilot dropped him off on the next world and swore at his passenger until he remembered where he was. He didn't wonder whether he'd ever see Aerith again.

* * *

Aerith herself had always had good instincts, and had a feeling that was somewhat stronger than a hunch that this wouldn't be the last time she heard Cloud's name. In actual fact, she didn't even make it back to the house that day before she heard it again. 

"Cloud?" a voice called from the street behind Cid's shop as she was passing. "Cloud!"

Aerith hurried around the corner to see who it was. There stood a young woman with soft brown hair who was looking down the next street to the left, hands still cupped around her mouth as though she'd been yelling. One of the side walls by her had been partially repaired recently and still looked to be in need of work. The girl knocked on it experimentally. The whole building shook a little.

"Excuse me," Aerith called, before the stranger could undo the builder's hard work. "Are you looking for someone?"

The girl turned at the sound of her voice. "Mm-hm. A man with hair like this." She pointed upwards with her hand held near her forehead, indicating a spike.

"Cloud, right? I heard before," Aerith told her. "I'm so sorry – you've just missed him. A friend of mine is taking him to another world. His ship will be back in a few hours, if you want to follow."

The girl reacted much as someone would expect to news of that nature. "Ah! I was so sure I was getting closer."

"I'm sure my friend wouldn't mind taking you as well," said Aerith, although by 'wouldn't mind' she may have meant something more like 'could be convinced with fairly minimal grouching'. "If you want to wait for him, his name is Cid Highwind. This is his shop – right here," she indicated the building. "I'll introduce you when he gets back, if you like."

"Thank you – that's so kind," the girl replied honestly. "Now I'm sure I'll catch up with Cloud soon." She disappeared around the corner, heading towards the shop entrance. As Aerith was headed a different way, she never saw where the mysterious stranger went from there.

Gummi ships were large and even the newest models were fairly noisy, and the hangar was located a fair way from Cid's shop, so Aerith had plenty of time between hearing the ship coming in to land and Cid's arrival at the shop to get there herself. When she entered, however, there was no-one in sight except Leon, lounging behind the counter with a bored look on his face. Aerith looked left and right, but there was definitely no-one else there. She must have made some sort of sound of surprise then, because Leon looked up to say "Lost something?"

"Did she not wait around?" Aerith asked. Leon frowned.

"She who?"

"I sent someone here earlier – I'm sure she meant to come straight here."

"Aerith," said Leon slowly. "No-one's been in since Cid left. Maybe this someone got lost?"

"Perhaps," Aerith allowed, unconvinced, but was distracted from whatever conclusion she was about to reach as Cid bustled in the door.

"All done?" said Leon, getting up from behind the counter.

"Taken care of," Cid confirmed. "Dropped the bastard off a couple of worlds over – and I hope he's happier there, because he's not getting off again so easily."

"He'll be alright," Aerith heard herself say.

"Yeah, should land on his feet, at any rate. Barely out of sight before I ran into that someone he was looking for. Lucky, huh?"

"You did?" said Aerith, not expecting this.

"Yeah – the girl, right? Brunette, about your age and height. Sweet looking, but I'd wager she was tougher than she looked. Probably needs to be to keep up with a sod like him."

"Cid, the person Cloud was looking for was a man," Aerith told him. Cid looked rather taken aback.

"Well, she definitely knew him, leastways. Maybe she knew where the guy he's after is at. Their business, not mine."

"Maybe she did." Aerith agreed, but she did not need the slightest scrap of magic or unusual instinct to know there was something more to it than that.


End file.
